What's New at Truffula Seed Produce

Young Farmers Conference

2011-12-13T05:27:00.000-08:00

This will REALLY be our last post. :) We went to an amazing conference for the third year in a row this year at Stone Barns Center for Agriculture in New York. Check out this NPR article about it...recognize the person in the first picture? :)

A Last Post

2011-12-08T19:11:00.001-08:00

We are writing this last post on the last night that we will be staying in our little log cabin. For those of you who don't already know, we have been offered an amazing opportunity to start a community farm at Sandy Spring Friends School where we both went to middle and high school. We will be living on campus and growing food for the cafeteria which serves three meals a day to day students, boarding students, faculty and staff. This will be a community supported farm which will involve people from all parts of the community: parents, teachers, students, staff, family, friends, administrators, and other local farmers.

We are so excited for this new adventure, but we are also sad to see the end of Truffula Seed Produce. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported our very small farm - from the people who directly supported us (Linda and Dave, Liza, our wonderful CSA members, and are loyal market customers), to those who taught us so much of what we know (Jackie, Tom, Greg, Scott), to all of our friends and family (and blog readers! Zaw! :) ). We couldn't have done it without you!

We will be living in Olney in our new little apartment starting tomorrow. We plan to start a blog for the school and we will post a link here when we do so you can follow us there if you are interested!

Goodbye Truffula Seed Produce and thanks for reading!

Rainbow Salad Mix

2011-09-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

In our CSA shares the last few weeks, we have been including a spicy salad mix with different baby mustard greens. This past week, we mixed our spicy salad mix with our lettuce mix and ended up with a beautiful salad we like to call Rainbow Salad Mix. It has six types of greens and is, if we say so ourselves, delicious! :)

It includes:

green salad bowl lettuce,

red salad bowl lettuce,

baby arugula,

ruby streaks mizuna,

green mizuna,

and baby toraziroh mustard greens.

The Fire at Sattva Place

2011-09-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks after our last visit to Sattva place, there was a terrible tragedy. The large barn in the middle of the property burned down. The origin of the fire could have been one of many things and sadly some young turkeys were taken in the flames. Fortunately, Scott's farming practices incorporate the barn minimally. He stored his feed and hay in there, as well as his major farm equipment, but the cows and other livestock remain on other parts of the property day and night.

He invited us over for dinner one evening and we were able to take some photos. Here are some before and after shots as well as some taken inside. It is sad to lose such a large structure (and all of its contents) but Scott has taken it in stride, finding solutions and remaining optimistic.

Our Visit to Sattva Place

2011-07-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our visit to Scott's beautiful farm:

Field Trip: Honey!

2011-07-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

We had a very honey-full couple of days last week. Scott, our friend from Sattva Place, has two hives on his farm doing quite well. He asked if we would come help him open them up and see if there was enough extra honey for the taking. We happily accepted! We take every opportunity we can to make it out to his farm, it's so beautiful and we always have fun. Scott and Shawn dove right in:

One of his goats was curious about all the action:

She came over to check me out as well. :)
After a few minutes they discovered there was, in fact, honey - tons of it! This is one of the frames full of honey:
The comb was just dripping with it - and it was sooooo good! They only took a small fraction of the honey from the hives, leaving the bees almost all of it. But even a small fraction was a lot for us! Scott sent us home with two generous jars full of honey - yum!

The Gardens

2011-07-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

In spite of the challenges of this season (and there are many), we have had some successes in our gardens. We have a healthy field of beets and chard with several different varieties to choose from. We also have a couple squash patches that - so far - are doing really well. There have been some signs of major squash bug infestation, but we have done a lot of squishing over the past few weeks and hope to get a good crop out of them.
We have one patch with both butternut and spaghetti squash. The butternut plants look great, while the spaghetti squash plants are struggling a little. Both, however, are loaded with squash so hopefully we will get some ripe ones before the bugs take over!
A butternut squash just starting to ripen: An unripe spaghetti squash: An almost ripe spaghetti squash: A small buttercup squash - these are super sweet and flavorful, we are crossing our fingers extra for these: Some unripe New England Pie pumpkins: We planted the summer squash late in hopes that it would miss the first round of squash bugs. So far so good, they are just starting to produce and the plants are looking good. A tiny patty pan squash with the flower still attached. Kind of looks like a pastry doesn't it? Some rows of sauce tomatoes: Aside from a little blossom-end rot, our tomatoes are doing really well! This is a sauce tomato called Speckled Roman. It will have red and yellow zebra stripes: These are classic Roma sauce tomatoes: It's almost time to pull out all the canning jars!

Ok, we did briefly with a bumper crop of cucumbers...26 jars of pickles: 10 bread and butter, 16 dill. :)

Hopefully we can keep going!

The High Tunnel (Greenhouse)

2011-07-21T14:12:00.001-07:00

As things ripen in our jungle of a high tunnel, we are finding all kinds of crazy things. We've had a ton of cucumbers come out of four short rows as well as a good crop of these tiny sour gherkin cucumbers.

Their vines are so pretty, they would work really well in an edible landscape. We have been getting gobs of cherry tomatoes: honeydrop - a new variety for us, and SO delicious. Peacevine, a small red cherry, and also a large purple cherry.
We've also had a great crop of early Cherokee Purple tomatoes - yum!
With tomatoes come pests, the most shocking is probably the tomato horn worm:
They start out small and eat both the leaves and the tomatoes. They seem to be partial to the cherries, they eat about half of each green tomato and them move on to the rest of the branch. They are voracious eaters and they grow fast...and they get huge! This one was larger than my index finger - yikes! They are camouflaged really well, so you don't see them until they are right under your nose. We used to be freaked out by them, but to tell you the truth, I have kind of come to like them. Aside from eating the plants (a pretty hefty offense) they are really cool! They have interesting markings and cute suction cup feet. Their season has mostly past, and I can't say that I'll miss them, but at least I don't jump ten feet every time I see one anymore. :)

Just Picked!

2011-06-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

Some of the goodies from the garden:

Nasturtiums

Herbs

Cucumbers

Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumbers (These are an awesome snack, but are not the same ones you pickle.)

They look like tiny watermelons.

Red Onions

Yellow Onions

Fresh Garlic

New Potatoes

Yum!

A Visitor From Chicago

2011-06-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

One of Shawn's closest friends from college, Rebecca, came to visit us this past weekend from Chicago. We had so much fun! It felt like we were all over the place, but we managed to take her on a tour of a lot of our favorite places. She came with us to our Saturday market in Westminster. Definitely one of our favorite places. Later that night, we visited Scott's farm, Sattva Place. Unfortunately we forgot the camera this time and don't have any photos of his magical and beautiful farm. We visited with his heard of cows, his baby goats, his boar and sow, his horse Darla and her foal, his flocks of chickens and turkeys, and the trillions of lightening bugs who appear at dusk. As usual, we had a wonderful time sharing a meal and a bonfire with Scott and his adorable dog Yindi.
Next, we headed over to see Abby and Daniel and their goats. We hung out in the barn with the babies for quite a while.

Rebecca got to give them a special treat, and they were loving it!

Shawn's turn to give them a treat.

They are super playful, they love to climb and jump. If you give them a good place to climb, climb they will.

After we ate dinner and came inside, we laughed our way through an impromptu jam session on instruments none of us knew how to play.

The next day we got up and put Rebecca to work. Weed, water, mulch, repeat. We tackled the beets, some of the potatoes and onions, and the garlic.

The garlic and onions after they've been weeded, watered, and mulched:
We ate several good farm meals while she was here. At Scott's we had a delicious fritata made with eggs and milk from his farm, and veggies from our friend's farm. We brought a salad with our cucumbers, lettuce and onion. On our big work day, we had beets, beet greens, new potatoes, and cucumber salad with garlic chives and cherry tomatoes (from the high tunnel).

For pizza night, we made a salad with lettuce, cucumber, and nasturtiums:

We had such a great weekend - hopefully we can get out to Chicago to visit this fall!

Colorado Potato Beetles

2011-06-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been virtually rainless. It's tough on the plans and tough on us! We have been watering as much as possible and are upgrading our system from last year with a pump and soaker hoses. It will make it a lot easier. (And hopefully faster.)

Because most of our plants are somewhat thirsty they are also a bit weakened and therefore more susceptible to pests. One of the worst infestations we have right now is the Colorado potato beetle. We have spent many hours picking, plucking, squishing, and smashing these guys and it seems to be working!

Here I am after 3 hours of potato beetle duty in 100 degree heat:

Anyway, most of our plants remain healthy. They have started to bloom and their small white and purple flowers are so pretty.

Unfortunately, each row has a few plants with beetles. Here is what we've found:

This is the larvae just after hatching. They come out of a little cluster of yellow eggs. Not so gross right? If you rub your thumb across them a couple times it pretty much wipes them out.

This is them when they get larger - yuck! I will spare you the details of what it is like to squish them. You can see all the damage just from these three buggers. They get huge so fast, you can see the difference when you compare them to my hand in both pictures.

And then finally the adult. We don't end up seeing too many adults, but when we do find them, we also find eggs somewhere in the vicinity.

They don't multiply super fast which is why we have managed to stay ahead of them. But don't let it fool you. They are voracious eaters. Here is a healthy plant with no beetles:

Here is a plant we overlooked:
Unbelievable right?

I think this guy is confused...

Although it is frustrating, we are not alone in our potato beetle battle! We have some friends keeping tabs when we aren't around. Like the two-spotted stink bug:
Not all stink bugs are bad, these are predatory stink bugs and suck the insides right out of the potato beetle larvae! Gross, yes, but also great.

We also saw a few of these, they too love to feed on potato beetle larvae:
They are called Assassin Bugs...yes...such a good name.

Lady beetles will feed on potato beetles, but we haven't seen as many of those. I think they are all in our high tunnel eating our aphid population. They have kept really good control in there.

Hopefully we will continue to keep our potato beetle population under control, so far so good!

A Few Goodies From the Garden

2011-06-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share a few items from the garden. Here are the latest picks:

Fresh Herbs: sage, thyme, dill

Garlic Scapes: the flowering stalk of the garlic plant. It has a mild garlic flavor. Yum!

Giant Snow Peas: sweet and crunchy!

Spring Onions

We really could use some rain - everyone, please do your ran dance! Then we can share more pictures of delicious produce. :)

Plant Sale!

2011-05-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we started the season off with our first plant sale! It was held at the same location in Downtown Westminster as our regular Saturday market. In spite of the dreary, rainy day, we had a really great turn out of both vendors and customers. It was great to get back out there - we missed the market so much over the winter!
We brought a ton of plants and a little bit of produce. Our stand felt really full - which is a nice feeling.

We brought some colorful radishes. We are trying out a new mix this year. We bought 6 or 7 different colors and mixed the seeds just before planting. In addition to the yellow, purple, red and pink we also have black and white!

We brought cut herbs: dill, chives, garlic chives, peppermint, thyme, bronze fennel, and sage. We sell a ton of herb plants, but some people just want some ready to use.

We also brought lettuce heads and lettuce mix, a Downtown Westminster market favorite!

Almost all the regular vendors were there with not just plants, but meat, cheese, baked goods, jams and more.

Its so exciting to be back into the season, although this year is FLYING by! I can't believe its the end of May already! We still have a ton of plants to sell (email if you are interested :) ) Here we go!

Things are Growing, Finally

2011-05-07T06:33:00.000-07:00

This April, the weather has been beautiful. Thunderstorms, warm days, cool nights. March, however, threw us some wild cards. (As usual.) We had a week of 25 degree nights, which halted growth and even killed some of our small, tender seedlings. And in the weeks after that, the combination of the chilly nights and wet ground seemed to have slowed down our plants. The middle of April showed a lull in growth for almost all of our plants. The last few weeks, luckily, have warmed the ground and we have seen most of our plants bounce back!

Here are some garden photos from the last few weeks. You can really see how much a lot of it has grown!

Chives, April 25th

Chives, May 6th

Strawberries, April 25th

Strawberries, May 6th

Salad Mix, April 25th

Salad Mix, May 6th

Peas, April 25th

Peas, May 6th

Garlic, April 25th

Garlic, May 6th

Peonies, May 6th

Volunteer Day!

2011-04-18T07:14:00.000-07:00

Volunteer day was a great success! We had such a great time and got SO much done thanks to our tireless volunteers.
We started out the day with several tasks in mind, but the most important was getting the potatoes planted.

We started around 9:00am with 140lbs of seed potatoes, a few rakes, hoes, shovels and a lot of lemonade. Sharon started us off and Linda came down shortly after. The four of us managed to plant 15 50 foot rows of potatoes in just a few hours!

On the left, you can see Sharon placing the potatoes down the trench Shawn made in one of the beds. Josie is raking the soil up and over the potatoes to create a bit of a hill.

It was a beautiful day for working outside! The wind was persistent but the temperature and off-and-on sun were really nice.

After lunch, Lauren, Shelley, Daniel, and Abby all came out to help. It is amazing how fast everything gets done with 8 people! We are so used to it just being the two of us.

Here, Daniel and Shawn are digging trenches for the potatoes. Then, after placing the potatoes, Abby and Lauren raked the soil back over the top.

Dig, dig, dig!

We planted 33 50 foot rows of potatoes - four different varieties - amazing!

We also managed to transplant some greens. We planted 3 rows of pak choi, 3 rows of red mizuna, 3 rows of green mizuna, and 3 rows of toraziroh mustard greens! (Mizuna is a type of mild mustard green as well.) Here is Linda digging the holes for the transplants (no fancy machinery here, just a good old fashioned trowel :) )After the holes were dug, we would come behind and place the transplants in each hole and gently cover up their roots.

Sharon with a beautiful flat of green mizuna.

Look at those roots!

Volunteer day is clearly a very serious day. VERY serious.

Photo by Lauren Bland

Photo by Lauren Bland

Shawn with his leg in a groundhog hole - yikes!

Photo by Lauren Bland

Photo by Lauren Bland

And no volunteer day is complete without a moment with the chickens.

Photo by Lauren Bland

Photo courtesy of Lauren Bland

Thank you so much to everyone who helped out yesterday, we got so much work done and had so much fun doing it!

The Acre: Take Two

2011-04-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

I meant to post these photos a few weeks ago when we finished the second till on the acre. We took turns tilling, Shawn spread some lime because the soil was a little too acidic, and Jack came over to supervise. We got all the tilling done and the beds formed all in one day! We only formed beds on half of the acre, the other half got a cover crop since we won't be planting crops in it until the summer planting.

Some Helpers

2011-03-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

Last week Danielle (who Josie has been friends with for a few years) brought her one year old daughter, Sadie, and her lovable dog, Ollie, out to the farm to help do some planting.

Ollie and Jaxxy get along great, they spent almost the whole day sprinting around the farm. Most dogs don't have the energy to tolerate Jaxxy's playfulness - but Ollie does. He can't get enough!After some tea and a little time to catch up, we sent the dogs out to play and headed over to the garden to with our flats of cabbage. We are growing four types this year: Golden Acre, Early Jersey Wakefield, Mammoth Red Rock, and Frigga Savoy. We should have some early and some later, as long as we can keep those pesky cabbage worms off of them.

Sadie did a great job. We brought over a shovel for her to play with and even found a big red ball in the grass near the garden!
We got four rows of cabbage planted, one for each variety. So far, they have been tolerating the freezing cold nights pretty well. Hopefully they make it through tonight - we are hoping its the last night in the 20s.

After a long morning of planting and a little snack, Sadie was almost ready for her nap. We were so happy to have them come out and work with us!
After they left, we spent the afternoon planting the rest of the spring crops. Peas, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, pak choi, parsley, radishes, and kohlrabi. Josie's mom came out to help too!
When we were done, we covered the cabbage and lettuce with row covers to help keep pests out. They help keep the moths that lay the cabbage worm eggs from finding the plants and will hopefully keep the rabbits and groundhogs from finding the baby lettuces.
We had a really productive day, thanks Danielle and Sadie!

A Video About Us!

2011-03-28T06:05:00.000-07:00

Our friend Jo Isrealson made a video for us from some footage she took last season. We are really excited, it turned out great! Thanks Jo!

Getting Ready for Spring

2011-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Spring is on its way and we are SO ready. We can't wait for warmer weather and all that comes with it. Things on the farm are really picking up, we have had a very busy week! Besides getting the tilling done, there are several other things that we've started as well.
The time has come to start hardening off the seedlings. "Hardening off" means preparing them for conditions outside. Since they have spent their short lives indoors, they are tender and can be easily scalded by sun or damaged by cold. We start to harden them off by bringing them outside during the day and bringing them in at night. After about a week they start spending the night outside too.
Between daily watering and bringing 60 trays outside and then back inside - the seedlings have become quite time consuming. Here they are outside, look how big they have gotten! This week we also got our high tunnel ready for spring. We took everything out, dug the beds out by hand and ready for planting. Here it is all ready to go! The soil was really nice from all the compost we added last year. Tons of earthworms. We also got all our tables in position for the seedlings to come out in the next week or so. Hopefully we can get the tomatoes and cucumbers in soon too!

The Acre

2011-03-15T13:29:00.001-07:00

The acre.
This year, in addition to the space we used last year, we have rented an acre. This is both very exciting and intimidating. Partly because our farming technique is almost entirely done by hand. We use the tractor for tilling, and sometimes for shaping beds, but everything else is done by hand. One acre is approximately 208 feet 8.5 inches by 208 feet 8.5 inches - or 43,560 square feet.
The acre is split into two half-acre lots. Yesterday, we went over and marked out the space so we could get to tilling first thing this morning.

This is the view of the lots from the small dirt road down to the property. They are on either side of the trees in the center of the photo.

This pole marks the corner of one of the half-acre lots, before tilling.

And we're off!

We took turns tilling. Its helpful to have two people. One on the tractor and one following behind to pick up rocks. Rocks can break the tiller. I'm excited that I finally learned how to use the tiller! (Thanks, Dad!)

The same pole after tilling. We did one pass on both halves today. After it dries out and rests a little, we'll do a second pass.

We found surprisingly few rocks, but some of them were huge.

The view behind the acre.

All finished! It took about 4 hours.

Both half-acre lots, can't wait to get them planted!

They're Getting Bigger...

2011-02-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

Part of our daily routine during this part of the year, is to take care of our seedlings. Most of them need to be watered every day, and as they get bigger we will need to thin some of them out. In our first entry about planting seeds we talked about planting several seeds in each plug to ensure we get good germination. Sometimes we get GREAT germination, and we have to pinch off some of the plants so that the ones we keep will grow bigger and stronger.
As they get bigger, we gently run our hands along them to help strengthen the stems. This simulates the breeze they would be resisting if they were outdoors, the resistance is what triggers them to thicken their stems. Some people set up oscillating fans for this which works really well too.
Our seedlings have grown quite a bit since our last entry. And our grow room is getting super full.

Leeks

Kohlrabi

Red Russian Kale

Siberian Dwarf Kale

Cabbage

It won't be too much longer till we get these little guys in the ground!

Jack and the Baby Goat

2011-02-16T10:24:00.001-08:00

Jack, my nephew, spends 3 days a week at the farm. With his mom in Annapolis for business, he spent the night with Pa and Gramma last night. This morning, Gramma and I decided it would be fun to take Jack to see Abby's newest addition to her goat family.
If you remember, she had her four Nigerian Dwarf goats bred last fall and one of them gave birth this week! All baby animals are cute, but baby goats have to be some of the cutest. Jack had a really good time meeting all the goats, but he loved the baby the most (of course).
Clearly Stardust had to say hi first, she leaned out to take a good look at him and he waved and called out "HIIII!"
She was very curious about him, she took a little sniff and lick right away. He asked, "bite?" We assured him she wouldn't bite him and from then on he was very comfortable around them.
Then Abby brought out the baby. He was practically shaking out of excitement. (Please note the cable-knit sweater the baby is wearing, it fits perfectly - Abby is so good at knitting!)

It wasn't long before Jack asked to go inside the barn. Here he is pointing to the hair on Stardust's head and saying "brown hair".
He had a lot of fun chasing them back and forth in the barn. They appeared to be having fun! They were all very gentile with him.

Stardust followed Jack around the whole time. She kept trying to give him kisses and maybe nibble a little on his hat.

I imagine this is what it looks like from Jack's point of view.

Back to the baby - this time he wanted to hold her. We put him in the stall with Abby and the mom and baby.

What is cuter than a small child holding a baby animal? A small child kissing a baby animal:

When it was time to go it was really hard to say goodbye to that little face!

Stardust didn't want us to leave either.
We had a great time at Folktale Farm, we'll have to bring Jack and his sister, Mia, back when the rest of the babies are born.

At least it feels like spring somewhere....

2011-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

...in the grow-room! Just 3 days after planting, we have some sprouts: kohlrabi, kale, and cabbage.

Kohlrabi

Kale

Cabbage

Jaxxy is very excited about the seedlings.

Starting the Season

2011-02-07T06:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was such a beautiful day to officially start off the season. It was sunny and by mid-day it was just above 40 degrees! After so much freezing cold weather, it actually felt really warm. We cleaned out the "grow-room" (where we start all our seeds under lights) to prepare for the 35 flats we needed to plant.
We got most of our seeds in the mail a week or two ago (yay!) and organized them in groups: greens, roots, beans, nightshade family, brassica family, etc. A lot of Fedco seeds come in paper packets, so we store the packets in plastic bags to keep them from getting wet. Storing them in groups makes it a lot easier to find the seeds we need when its time to plant.

After we cleaned out the grow-room, we were ready to get started. We decided to work in the high-tunnel since it was 80 degrees inside - with the sun shining through it almost felt like summer. First, we mixed up a batch of potting soil. We make our own because, for the quantity we use, its much cheaper than bagged potting mixes. Plus, we know exactly what goes into it and exactly how much. The bulk of it is compost, peat moss, and perlite. We also add some amendments for balanced nutrients.
Once the potting soil is mixed, we get it wet. If you fill the flats with dry soil, seed them and then try to water them, the seeds will float to the top and the soil compacts and shrinks. It's not good.
We fill the flats with the moist soil and then carefully place seeds into each plug. For most things, we use plug trays that hold 72 plugs. This one was ready to be planted with red cabbage. We poke a shallow hole in each plug, put 2 - 3 seeds in the center, and cover them up.
Its important to put more than one seed per plug because not every seed is going to germinate. It saves a lot of time to double up rather than having to go back and re-seed the empty plugs.
Abby and Daniel stopped by to help out - this is Abby seeding some kohlrabi:
We ended up planting cabbage, kale, celery, onions, leeks, kohlrabi, parsley, mint, sage, lemon balm, rosemary, chives, and thyme. The veggies will go in the ground in March and the herbs will be sold at plant sales, the Go Local Fair, and the first few farmers markets. Now if spring could just hurry up and get here!

Ordering Seeds!

2011-01-08T12:05:00.001-08:00

Seed catalogs - possibly my favorite kind of mail. I think, between all of us, we are probably signed up for every seed catalog available to the east coast. We get all organic seed catalogs, all heirloom catalogs, catalogs for larger growers, catalogs for smaller growers, garden supply catalogs that also sell some seeds....the list goes on. There is nothing like opening up a fresh catalog and drooling at all the pictures and variety descriptions. These are some of our favorites:

As we go through them, they start to look a little more like this:

We sat down a few days ago to try to hammer out our seed order for this season. We secured another acre across the street which means we will be planting a TON more than last season. Each catalog is a little different and I think it may be one of the few things left that still feels simpler to do with the actual paper copies rather than online.

Some catalogs have no pictures at all, just very thorough descriptions and comparisons.

Others have beautiful photographs - they are the most fun to thumb through.

Drool.

Our favorite place has to be Fedco Seeds out of Waterville, ME. They have everything we could want. For example: they break up their seed selections into open-pollinated and hybrid. Since we do our best to only use open-pollinated and heirloom varieties, this is so helpful! (If you are wondering what the difference is, the most important thing to know is that you CAN save seeds from open-pollinated plants and you CAN NOT save seeds from hybrid plants.) Most catalogs will tell you if it is one or the other, but they don't separate them into sections.
Another nice thing they have are really entertaining descriptions of each variety. Like this one for the Yellow Brandywine tomato:
"When she's good, she's very very good, but when she's bad she's awful." And about care and culture: "Compost the weird-looking fruits." Ha! Or for a variety of mizuna mustard greens we are getting called Ruby Streaks: "As if an artist had carefully brushed deep purple filigree on the delicately serrated leaves of mizuna." Who cares if they have pictures - who can resist that?!

Fedco's general philosophy is also something we appreciate. They are a co-op "to maximize social capital for the benefit of [their] entire community" rather than a profit driven company for the benefit of a few owners. They offer resources to seed saving organizations and they do not carry genetically modified seeds (on purpose). They even test their corn and beets to make sure! And so clearly, you can guess, they also avoid Monsanto seeds. Not to mention, their prices are absolutely unbeatable. They are often half to a quarter of the price of other popular seed companies.

There are definitely other places we like: Johnny's Selected Seeds, Territorial Seed Company, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Seed Savers Exchange, etc. but we by 95% of our seeds from Fedco.

It took us two full days, but we got our seeds ordered! Can't wait until they show up!

Goat Adventures: Shearing

2010-11-24T07:00:00.001-08:00

We have written about these fabulous goats before, but we just can't get enough! Abby and Daniel now have 9 goats - 7 female and 2 male - and they each have a really distinct personality. The more time you spend with them, the more you see it! It's amazing. Abby has become the Goat Guru. She knows all about the different breeds and what traits they have, the different types of fiber, milk production, what they should eat, how to keep them healthy...the list goes on.
Since the last post, they have added a few more adorable goats to their heard. Let's take a look at their growing goat family:
The first two are Pygoras - a cross between a pygmy and an angora goat. These goats were bred for their fiber. They have a wether (a castrated male) and a doe.

This is Ziggy, the wether. He is rambunctious and somewhat of a whiner. He gets jealous of the other goats and likes a lot of attention.

Hi Ziggy!

This is Stardust - Ziggy's mom. As if it were possible, she wants even more attention than Ziggy and seems to be Abby's personal favorite...she is the mama goat, having established herself as head goat in the hierarchy of their heard. If you are paying attention to another goat, you will hear about it from Stardust!
They also have four Nigerian Dwarf goats. These are bred to produce milk. They are just as small as the Pygoras, maybe even smaller, and they can produce up to 2 quarts of milk per day! They recently had all four bred to a few local bucks, so they will have little babies in February or March.

This is Cameo, she is less skiddish than some of the others. They describe her as looking like a deer.

This is Tarot - I think she looks like a cow. She is definitely the most skiddish, but also very gentle. I like her a lot, she always gives you a knowing look, as if she is keeping a secret.
This is Cowalilly. She is beautiful!! She and Cameo are the easiest to pet out of the four of them. Her markings are just amazing.
They used to have a different Nigerian named Cordelia. Abby and Daniel always felt like she didn't really fit into the heard. When they were having their goats bred, the farmer offered to trade her for Cowalilly's twin sister - Abby and Daniel were so excited! Here she is, her name is....Cowalick...ha! She is so sweet, but the most defining personality trait of both sisters is their attachment to each other. Literally. They seem to always be touching. It's so cute!

Fairly recently, they added three more Pygora goats to the heard. At only 6 months old, they are so small and so cute! They had already grown their full fleece, so they look a little like sheep. Here they are: This is Muriel, it looks like she is nuzzling Stardust, but really she is pushing her head out of the way: bold move Muriel.
This is Muriel with Aoife (pronounced ee-fa). "If Stardust is queen than Aoife is a the princess", Abby said while handling Aoife. She looks a little like an elf, has a heart shaped nose, and her fleece is incredible. She is really calm but obviously thinks of herself as very special. She almost floats around the barn.
And finally, Pippin. He is another wether, and is just like a little puppy! He is so adorable, I swear he smiles. He is really cuddly, when Abby picks him up instead of struggling he just nuzzles his nose into her neck and relaxes. It's irresistible. I know it seems impossible that they could have such personalities, but you can almost see it the very first time you meet them. They are a lot like dogs that way.

Ok - now onto the adventure! Shearing the Pygora babies.

Why, might you ask, is she shearing them in the fall? I had the same question. Goat fleeces, just like sheep, will felt if they are left on the goats for too long. They start out getting matted and dirty and slowly over time turn into a giant, painful, felty mess. Since these goats were born 7 or so months ago, their bodies haven't learned to grow their fleece at the right time yet. Stardust and Ziggy, for example, JUST started growing theirs - perfect timing! But they are a few years older. Luckily, she used scissors instead of clippers. This left them quite a bit of under-coat to keep them warm. She also has another fun solution....which you will see later. :)

How to shear a baby goat:

Step 1: Set up your shearing area with something to restrain the goats. (This is a custom milk stand made for smaller goats.)

Step 2: Catch your goat.

This is Muriel, before shearing - she is so small!

Step 3: Restrain the goat and give them a treat. In this case, she got a nice pile of grain - her favorite!

"Maaaaaa!"

Step 4: Start cutting. Her fleece looked brown on the outside, but turned out to be mostly gray, what a surprise!

It came off mostly in one piece.

The outside.

The underside.

Step 5: The belly - watch out for the tiny udders!

Awww

"Maaaaa!"

All done - not so bad, right? Two to go....

Aoife, before. Look at that fleece! She looks like a cartoon goat.

So shiny.

Awww

Last, but not least, little Pippin. He was by far the easiest for Abby to shear since he is so calm and cuddly. He just stood there and hung out.

So what is the fun solution to keep them warm? Wool sweaters, of course! Abby found some kid sized sweaters at Goodwill and 'custom' fit them to each of the goats. She cut the sleeves and the belly to fit just right. We'll see how long they keep them on....

What a fun adventure!

Frosty November

2010-11-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

As we stepped out last night to dump some compost, it really felt like November. Crisp and cold, but with the lingering scent of fall. We knew it was going to be a cold night, but for some reason we didn't check the chances for frost. We woke up to a beautiful (albeit a little nerve-racking) frost. It was so thick it almost looked like snow!
The grass was shimmering and each leaf and flower were outlined in millions of tiny crystals. I spent a while walking around in my pajamas with the camera inspecting how the frost looked on all the different plants. Some of the garden plants look like they are holding up to the frost better than others but while the frost is still around they all look magical!
We will start covering the kale and spinach in the high tunnel, in hopes that it will survive the winter. We will probably also cover what is left after last night so it will last until the end of the market. Looks like it's going to be really cold tonight too.
Here are some photos of the farm with the first hard frost of the season:

Parsley

Zinnia

Thistle

Chard

Carrots

Cosmos

Celosia

Bronze Fennel

Yep...We Biked to Market!

2010-10-14T13:39:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since our last post. Too long...but it has really flown by. Since the end of August we have been so busy it has been hard to believe we even have something interesting to write about. Of course there are the beautiful root veggies we are harvesting, the garlic we are ready to plant, and the beds we are putting to rest for the winter. We have a new bee hive, our friends got even more goats, and our chickens have been laying more and more eggs each day (up to 42 eggs! -- per day!)

But aside from those things, there is one exciting thing that we really wanted to share. Last Saturday we decided (sort of on a whim) to bike to the farmers market. Yep, we did it! Shawn has a new cart for his bike that he found on craigslist. It is pretty awesome. It is meant to tow kids, but you can fold the back down to make it more convenient to tow other things. A day or two before, he piled it high with the tent and tables, empty boxes and bins to go for a trial ride.
Aside from one or two impossible hills, which incidently are impossible without a trailor full of veggies, he discovered it is doable!

We got up extra early, it was crisp and dewey, the sky was pink. We loaded his cart with turnips, chard, radishes, eggs, and all the rest of our veggies. We put the pumpkins and beets in the bin on my bike in hopes of saving him from some of the weight.
We hopped on the bikes and started pedaling. About 10 feet down the driveway, my bin fell off. For no reason. After several failed attempts to secure it, we got a bag and put most of it in there and had much better luck.

Off we went, finally, up and down the hills 6 miles to market. We made it right at 8. No better way to wake up than a crisp bike ride to sell some vegetables!

I Love Canning

2010-09-14T16:56:00.000-07:00

Boy it's been a busy few weeks! We had a great trip to visit Shawn's brother, Gaelan, in Atlanta and we had a relaxing weekend in Chincoteague with his mom. We have been planting and babying our fall crops. We still have our three markets each week and we are also teaching some classes. Plus, as our summer crops phase out, we are preserving. Freezing, storing, canning - you name it, we're trying it.
Canning, it turns out, is my favorite. I have a lot of fun hunkering down in the kitchen for a few hours (or a few days) and making my way through the process. Sterilizing the jars, preparing the food, filling the jars, boiling them for their final bath, and of course waiting for that little "plink" you hear as the jars cool and the lids seal. I will generally can anything. I'll can left over pasta sauce, tomato seconds ("seconds" refers to the ones with spots, bugs, or any other undesirable, or unsellable condition), soup, watermelon rinds, turnips...well, you get the idea.
Earlier in the season we had a bumper crop of cucumbers and beets...I made pickles. Traditional dill spears, bread and butter, and pickled beets.

These are the bread and butter pickles, I cut them with the crinkle cut blade on a mandolin slicer.

They had to drain after soaking for a few hours and then I heated them through in their canning liquid.

We recently scored almost a bushel of peaches at the Crossroads market. They were seconds...perfect for canning! I canned them in a honey syrup because they weren't quite juicy enough to use their own juices. They turned out great!

Here I am peeling, pitting and slicing them. I dropped them into a water bath with 2 tablespoons each of salt and vinegar. This keeps them from turning brown. I peeled them with a vegetable peeler...you can also blanch them to peel them but I don't enjoy that as much.

They are drained and then brought to a boil in the honey syrup. You can can them raw, but these were slightly under-ripe so heating them through brought them to just the right texture.

I ended up with 20 jars!

I like to can with pint jars because I can never finish a quart of something after I open it. Most people use quarts because it saves time and you use less jars, which probably makes more sense. I guess it really depends on what you are canning and how much of it you will need at once!
Our busy fall will continue, I hope much of it includes canning.

Field Trip: Tree Chopping, Determined Eggplant, and Tiny Milk Goats

2010-08-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

This summer, we met Abby and Daniel at the Downtown Westminster Farmers' Market. They come every Saturday and pick up some produce from several vendors. After the first few visits, we found out they had purchased a farm in Westminster - but not just any farm, Greg and Kris's from Thorne Farm. (Thorne Farm is also a vendor at the market, right across from us as a matter of fact.) It's a beautiful 4.5 acre property only about 20 minutes from our place!
They already have a lot of really fun things going on there, and have even more planned for the future. On a recent Sunday we got a chance to go hang out with them and all their little farm friends.
Our tour started with the beautiful 1950's house, I didn't get any pictures but you can see a few on Abby's blog. The rooms are covered in wood paneling - real wood paneling, not the cheesy staple on kind - and it is the perfect size.
Behind the house the land goes back into a wedge shape, on the right will be their pasture as soon as the fences go up and on the left are their vegetable gardens. They have some really fun veggies growing (all heirlooms, yay!) and the plants have been very persistent in spite of a very pesky groundhog.

This eggplant had been eaten away and had seemingly died, it grew back and is now flowering again!

They are growing basil, peppers, beans, sweet corn, pie pumpkins, watermelons, eggplants, tomatoes and more!

Next on the tour were the three dead trees that need to come down before the new fences go up, one of which was coming down while we were there. Daniel and Shawn worked on clearing the way for the falling tree and then the lengthy task of cutting it down.

Here Daniel is cutting a wedge into the front third of the tree. This cut will guide it as it falls.

They then cut into the back of the tree until they were a few inches from the original wedge.

And TIMBER!!! The tree came down - to the applause of the neighbors who were watching from their deck.
Our final stop on the tour was the goats and chickens. They have 22 Rhode Island Red hens that were happily pecking at some cantaloupe rinds when we got there. In the future, they plan to get some rare heritage birds (we warned them that the polish ones, like Trudy, get beat up on).
The goats, however, are amazing! They are so sweet and full of personality...and small! They are smaller than my dog.

This is Stardust, the only one Abby is currently milking. She is the leader of the females and demands it stays that way. She threw two or three fits while we were there, which involved stomping to the back of the barn and giving us funny looks. I think she was mad that she wasn't receiving ALL of the attention. :)

This is her son, Ziggy. He is a very sweet wether (this is a castrated male). He is a little shy and acts a lot like a dog.

Abby and Daniel are planning to breed the four below soon so they will start producing milk too. For how small they are, each goat will produce more milk than you think - a quart per day! If you didn't check out her blog with my first link, here it is again. You can see the names of these four and a video of them. Abby spins eco/human/animal friendly fibers into all kinds of beautiful and awesome yarns. You must see them!

While we were hanging out with the goats, milking time rolled around. This is Stardust's favorite time of day.

The milk pail, cider wash for her udders, brush, and grain for her to eat.

She showed us how to do it! It's hard at first, but once you get it, it's fun.

These two are jealous of her milking time...they will get their chance soon!

There will only be more fun adventures had here, keep a look out for them. :)

Our First Melon!

2010-08-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

We harvested our first melon yesterday! As we were picking for market, Shawn decided to check on the Amish melons and watermelons to see how they are coming along. There have been a few large Amish melons we have been keeping an eye on (ok, we check them daily) and one of them had been turning from gray to yellow.
Amish melons are a lot like cantaloupes, they are a yellowish color with a dry netting that develops all over as they ripen. Our melons looked a little different though. In general, they should have a round shape with large ribs, but ours have a strange knob on the bottom - sort of like a buttercup squash. Linda had saved the seeds from years past, and although she hadn't grown anything that would cross with the Amish melon, we were afraid they somehow crossed with another (less tasty) plant.
But it sure did smell like a delicious, ripe melon. It was still warm from the sun when we cut into it...I can't describe the excitement with which we sliced our first piece of fruit.

A hint of orange....so far so good....

Yes!!!!!

The flesh was soft and juicy and it smelled amazing. We cut slices for everyone: Linda, Dave, Pawpaw and the two of us.

It was incredible!! Sooo sweet and so juicy, we were covered in sticky-sweet juice as we threw the rinds to the very grateful chickens. :) We were sure to save ALL the seeds from this melon...this will be a Truffula Seed staple! We may have to re-name it though...with it's knobby shape we may have a new variety on our hands...

Field Trip: Sattva Place (Scott's Farm!)

2010-08-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

Since we began our farming adventure last year, we have made so many new friends. Some frequent the farmers' markets, some work on local farms, some joined us at one of the several conferences we attended last winter, and some are farmers. Our friend Scott is a farmer and happens to have the stand right next to us at the Westminster Farmers' Market. We had met him a few times at friends' get-togethers, but it wasn't until market started up this year that we really got to know him.
His farm, Sattva Place ('Sattva' is Sanskrit for 'purity'), is located in Frederick County between Frederick and Thurmont. Farming, however, is only one of his many skills. He teaches yoga classes, trims horse hooves, substitute teaches middle school math and is currently taking classes to receive a master's degree in education. And if that doesn't seem like a lot, you should see everything he has going on his farm!
Scott raises cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys for meat. He also has horses and goats. He rotationally grazes all of his animals, moving the cows and birds daily. We spent a day at the farm last weekend and as a part of our look around his 100 acres, we got to see him move the cows and chickens. What an amazing place!

Here is Scott in front of one of the barns with his affectionate little puppy (well, not so little anymore!).

She is killer, right? Soooo cute!

An old bee hive that pretty much takes care of itself.

The horses.

The goats.

I particularly like this one...

The boar.

The pigs.

The turkeys.

The chickens. These chickens, and the turkeys above, are in "chicken tractors". These are movable chicken coops that allow the birds to remain protected while out on open pasture. They are usually moved daily to allow the birds to eat fresh grass and bugs while distributing their manure evenly over the pasture. The chickens have shade tarps over their tractors to help with the heat.

This is the permanent chicken coop Scott built. It's perfect for winter with a south facing glass wall. The chickens seemed to love it!

For dinner, we ate a delicious salad with some of our cucumbers and peppers, some of Jackie's (De La Tierra Gardens) tomatoes and a hard-boiled turkey egg. Neither of us had ever eaten a turkey egg before and we were really excited to try it. It is shaped just like a chicken egg but is about twice the size.

It was delicious! Really, it tasted like a chicken egg, but boy was it good. We had such a fun day at Scott's, we are going to have to take field trips more often!

Dry Beans: The Under-Appreciated Crop

2010-08-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

Last summer, while interning on several farms, we learned how to grow a lot of fun new vegetables like small orange eggplants, purple tomatillos, kohlrabi, and many others. As we chose the varieties to grow on our farm this year, we thought a lot about our experiences. At White Rose Farm, we helped harvest rows and rows of dry beans (or, as some call them, soup beans) and fell in love! Everything about them makes sense. They are easy to grow, low maintenance, and ready for storage right off the plant. Not to mention they are beautiful!
Some people may be turned off by having to shell them, but not us (see left :) ), it is actually a great way to spend your time (especially if you have company). In fact, a week or two ago, Renee - who writes a great local living blog - came by to check out the farm. Half-way through the tour we took her into the workshop/prep space and showed her, among other things, the dry beans we had pulled. An hour later we were sitting on the floor, shelling the last beans from the bin and finishing an excellent conversation about how the events of our lives had brought us to where we are today. We grew several varieties this year, many of which are very old heirloom varieties - some cultivated by Native Americans in several regions of what is now the United States. And the varieties are: Jackson Wonder Limas, Black-Eyed Peas (left over from White Rose last year)

Cannellini and Black Beans

Jacob's Cattle (which really look like cows!) and Calypso (little yin yangs)

And Tiger Eye

Most shell beans can be eaten fresh like green beans when they are young, before the beans develop inside. Once the beans develop, you can also shell them and eat them fresh (before they dry). The most common fresh shell bean is the lima bean. Mmmm, and do I love lima beans.
Here is what they look like in the pod fresh, ready to shell and eat. You can tell they are ready because you can see the shape of the bean through the pod. You can also tell by holding it up to a light, you can see if the beans are full size or not.

Here they have dried on the bush.

When they are fresh, the beans take up most of the pod. But when they dry, they shrink quite a bit and develop their coloring. They are sometimes smaller than others. These are pretty small. And these are a little bigger. For lima beans, we pick the beans as they dry. They dry on the plant from the bottom up, so there are often dry and fresh beans on the same plant. For the other types of beans, they tend to grow and dry all at once, so we wait for them to dry and then pull the whole plant out. You know they are dry enough if you can press your fingernail into the bean and it doesn't make a mark. On a wet year, they can get moldy if you wait too long so you can pull them a little early and let them finish drying in a cool place out of the sunlight. Clearly we don't have that problem this year. The top ones are Christmas Limas, if you have read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle they are on the cover (fresh, not dried).

Another bonus to dry beans? They look great in jars!

Vacation: Bikes, Beaches, and Grilled Pizza

2010-08-08T18:50:00.001-07:00

Ah, vacation. We spent the last week in Cape May, NJ. Our family rents a beach house every year for one week in August. What a great place to go! It isn't too far away, the town is bike friendly and the beach is just a few blocks away. Before we left, we spent several days preparing the garden for a week of solitude. We mowed under the fences, weeded the most desperate crops, and watered. We also picked like crazy for the trip. (For pictures of all the produce we picked, check out Liza's [Josie's sister] blog (a)Musing Foodie) We picked heavy for two reasons:
1.) There is nothing worse than the thought of tomatoes rotting on the vine, and at this point in the season they are ripe almost every day.
2.) What is a vacation without fresh produce?? :)

As for the chickens, Elizabeth (a family friend) came each night to close them in and make sure they had enough food and water. She also watered in the high tunnel for us. Jackie, from De La Tierra Gardens, came to pick some tomatoes and tomatillos and so did Josie's aunt, Sharon.
We came back to a (mostly) good looking garden - almost all the fall stuff germinated, yay!

Our vacation was full of all of our favorite things: bike rides, beach days, and yummy food. Here are some photos of the highlights of our trip!

Biking to a beach in West Cape May about 5 miles from the regular beach. The marsh on the way is so pretty.

We were able to fit the tandem in the van and it's a good thing we did - we rode it almost every day!

We even got Linda and Dave on it! Everyone needs one, they are so fun.

Dave pointed out this cloud - it looks a little like our favorite chicken, Trudy. Who looks a little like this:

And of course, the beach.

Now THAT'S a farmer tan.

Mia and Jack, just back from the beach playing with bubble guns.

Last but not least, Shawn's grilled pizza. This was amazing. AMAZING! He grilled the first side of the pizza, pulled it off the grill and added toppings (garden veggies, of course) and then back on the grill. I was skeptical of the gas grill, but it was delicious. We ate so much pizza that night, we thought we were going to explode.

Now it's catch up time. Weeding, watering, tearing stuff out, and planting. Fall, here we come!

Gearing Up For Fall

2010-07-29T12:28:00.000-07:00

As summer peaks we are finally getting a small break from the blistering hundred degree days - temperatures have plummeted to the breezy low 90s. Summer crops are starting to pass by, tomatoes are just gearing up, and we are planting fall crops. As we pull things out we are tilling up the empty beds...ahhh a fresh start. We have tilled up about 15 beds.
We are planting mostly root veggies in the ground: carrots, beets and parsnips. We planted one more succession of beans and put in some late squash and melons.

The garden across the street where we planted beans and some chard:

and squash, pumpkins and melons:

We also started some seedlings a week or two ago for some of the cooler weather crops. This way we can transplant seedlings like we did in the spring and have a better chance of a successful fall garden.

Kale seedlings:

Spinach and Cabbage seedlings:

Along with the kale, spinach and cabbage, we planted brussel sprouts!

Most of what is left in the gardens is doing really well. The tomatoes are going crazy, peppers are starting to ripen, and chard is continuing to grow. The melons, pumpkins, squash and other fall stuff we planted a few weeks ago is flourishing - even without enough water!

Sunflowers in the main garden:

Our new favorite vegetable: the red noodle bean. It is a burgundy bean that grows 18 inches long! They are delicious and don't loose their color when you cook them. They are convenient because you don't have to use as many for a meal and so you don't have as many of those annoying little ends to snap or chop off. We will be bringing them to market from now on, but you will definitely see more of these from us next year.

Red noodle bean flower:

Sweet potato plants:

Squash and pumpkin patch:

New England pie pumpkin (it will turn orange when it's ripe):

Melon patch:

Watermelon! It is about the size of a softball at this point, we got them in late:

Amish melon, tastes like a cantaloupe:

We will be on vacation in Cape May, NJ for the next week, and are happy for the break. We are really excited to see how things look when we get back!

The Drought

2010-07-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

In the past week, we have had rain three times.
It's FINALLY catching us up from the awful drought we've had this summer. The plants (and weeds) are loving it. During the drought we kept our garden alive by watering as much as possible and, so far, we have been lucky to not lose anything. But here is the problem: the drought hit right around the time we needed to start planting a third succession of veggies. During the summer, we plant three or four times to make sure we can harvest things all season instead of having just one big harvest and then nothing. But as we tried to plant during the drought, when it was also exceptionally hot, we had no luck. We planted several rows several times and got nothing. We tried all different hot weather plants and it just didn't work. Even when we watered before and after planting, it was too hot and dry for the seeds to germinate. The gardens looked something like this:What does this mean for our plants? It means that in about a month, we will have a lull in the harvest.
As you know, we are new at this, and we have been learning so much this year. One of the more interesting things we have experienced is having our lives dictated by the weather and the seasons and also the plants and insects. Our day-to-day depends on what the weather is that day, but also what it has been for the last few weeks.
Has it been really wet? Is it muddy in the garden? Has it been really dry? Is it raining today? Is it scorching hot? What bugs have we seen and are they good or bad? If we plant seeds now, will we have to water? When will they be ready to harvest? What else will be ready to harvest then?
Planting and weeding are both hard when it has been really wet and when it's been really dry.
Some plants have a nasty reaction to being really dry and then having lots of water and we check for those symptoms.
We are always on the look-out for "bad" bugs to smash.
Planting depends on timing, there has to be an open bed to plant in, it has to have enough time with the right weather (cool in the spring, hot in the summer, cool in the fall) to grow, and you can't plant it in a bed that has grown something similar before.
There is always something to be done, but it is these questions and considerations (plus many more) that decide what gets done when. Throw in several markets a week (and for some of our farmer friends, a CSA) and you have quite a job on your hands! Quite a rewarding job. :)

A Tutorial: Freezing Veggies

2010-07-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have veggies that just sit in the fridge until they are inedible? I think that happens when you just have too many (or not enough time to cook it all). Sometimes when we come back from the farmers market, we have veggies left over. We eat some of them, but when there are too many to eat we usually freeze them to stock up for the winter. We also freeze or can a bumper crop of any one item and, to make sure our winter is full of variety, we freeze and can the final harvest of all kinds of veggies. I think more people would do this if they knew just how easy and fast it can be - so this entry is a step-by-step tutorial for how to freeze greens and tomatoes. Shall we get started?

The Tools

From left to right: A large pot of boiling water, freezer bags, tongs, a large spoon, a ladel, and canning tongs (we won't use those this time since we are just freezing).

Tip: We like to use the quart size freezer bags so that we have individual meal sized servings. Having to thaw large portions just to get a serving size can be difficult. We get 2 - 3 servings from one quart size freezer bag.

You also need a second large pot or bowl filled with ice water close by.

Greens: The following process will work for any cooking greens. (Spinach, Kale, Chard, Bok Choi, etc.)

The greens need to be blanched before they go into the freezer. Blanching is when you boil the vegetable for an allotted amount of time and then immediately dunk it in cold water. Boiling the greens kills the active enzymes that are constantly decomposing the plant matter, if you were to just put them straight into the freezer, they would spoil even at the very low freezing temperatures. Dunking them in cold water immediately stops the cooking process.

Preparing the Greens

For kale, we take the leaves off of the tough stems.

Leaves

Stems (stems go straight into the compost or chicken yard)

Chard stems are delicious to eat so we just chop up the whole bunch into more manageable pieces.

The Process

1. Place leaves into the boiling water.

2. Stir to make sure they are all submerged, cover if it is really full.

3. Boil for 2 minutes.

4. Use the tongs to place immediately into cold water.

5. Strain the greens and fill your freezer bags.

Tip: When filling your bags, let all the air out and flatten the greens inside the bags. This way you can stack them in your freezer and take up as little space as possible.

6. Don't forget to label and include the date!

Greens will be good in your freezer up to 12 months.

That was easy, right? It is a very similar process with lots of green veggies - peas, green beans, and several others. The blanching times vary from 1 - 3 minutes. On to tomatoes!

Tomatoes should be peeled before freezing. The skins don't taste good after being frozen and peeling them will help them store for longer too. All you need to do to prep your tomatoes is take off the stems and wash them.

The Process

1. Drop the tomatoes, whole, into boiling water and let them sit for 2 minutes.

2. Transfer to a large pot or bowl of cold water. Let them sit in the cold water for a few minutes, tomatoes retain heat really well.

3. Peel the skins off and discard. (Feed to chickens or compost! :) )

4. Remove the tough spot from where the stem used to be. It is easiest to just use your hands, but a knife would work too.

5. Ladle the (mostly) whole tomatoes and juice into freezer bags. Just as with the greens, get as much air out as possible and only fill them to the point where they will sit flat.

6. Label and date.

Tip: Labeling is sometimes easier to do BEFORE you fill the bags.

Tomatoes, like greens, will be good in the freezer up to 12 months.

Here is what they look like stacked in the freezer!

We sometimes put 4 or 5 of the smaller bags into larger, gallon sized bags to avoid freezer burn and make it easier to organize.

When you are ready to use your frozen veggies, you can thaw them and cook them exactly how you would if they were raw. Or, you can dump them in to soups or stews frozen and they will thaw as they cook!

I hope this inspires you to start putting some veggies up for the winter. It is a great way to keep from wasting food and to save a lot of money! There is nothing like preparing a meal on a snowy February day and having everything you need right in your freezer.

(By the way, we prepared all of these bags of veggies for freezing in less than one hour.)

Farm Fest Highlights!

2010-06-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Farm Fest was so much fun! We really enjoyed spending time with everyone who came out. Thank you so much for supporting us and joining us for a wonderful day! Here are a few highlights:

Zaw, who works with Linda at Maret School, and his neighbor Shawn rode their bikes from Silver Spring all the way to the farm. (Yes, the Silver Spring in Montgomery County)

LOVE the sign!

The trip is close to 50 miles!!

We were so excited to see them when they arrived, and it only took them about 3 and a half hours! Incredible! Thanks so much Zaw and Shawn for making the day even more exciting!
Shawn and Mark spent several hours cooking pizzas, in a 500 degree oven, on a 95 degree day. Needless to say it was HOT in that kitchen, but they made some amazing pizza - it was eaten up as fast as they could make it. It included toppings such as basil, pineapple, green pepper, beets, and turnips. Regina, from The Farmer's Daughter (oh so famous for her delicious, and huge, cinnamon rolls) made the whole wheat, rosemary and chive dough for the crust. A few days before Farm Fest, we got to help her knead the dough, it was great fun!

Two of the delicious pizzas with basil and parmesan toppings.

This was a Zero Waste event, so we had glass jars to drink from, cloth napkins, recycling and compost bins. It worked out really well, we had no trash at all at the end of the day!

We set up our farm stand and included Linda's new book called "Yellow Bird". The limited first edition is on sale for $18 a copy - let us know if you are interested!! So exciting!

It was a beautiful, but hot, day so many people spent time in the breezy shade overlooking the garden,
or under the oldest black walnut tree watching the kids play on the swing set.

Jack enjoying a cool drink of water.

One of the cutest puppies in the world.

Scott Trexler, who has a stand right next to us at the Westminster market (selling organic chicken, eggs, beef, rose, and pork), brings his lovely puppy with him to market every week. It is great fun to watch her grow! And grow she will, she is half rottweiler and half Saint Bernard...

Here is Regina reading to David, her son, in the shade in front of the farm house.

Smile David!

Some of the many musicians who played at Farm Fest, pictured here are Dave, Joel Hoskins, and Pawpaw. They set up in the workshop and it worked out great! We will have to remember that for the next party.

Thanks again to everyone who came, to Dave and Linda for making it happen and making the property look gorgeous, to Mark for all your help, and Regina for the yummy crust!

No Rain = Watering

2010-06-25T12:00:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since a good rain - a long while. Our gardens have been so thirsty and are showing the signs of drought: wilting, stalled growth, crispy edges, etc. The big challenge this month has been how, exactly, to water. Being new farmers, we don't yet have all the supplies of a larger and more established operation. We have some row covers and hoops, we make our own trellises, and we have our beloved high tunnel. What we don't have is a good irrigation system and with the small scale of our farm, it hasn't seemed justifiable to buy one just yet.
On the main property, through a series of creative hose connections, we are able to hand water just about everything. When we are short on time, we set up sprinklers (at night to minimize evaporation and wasted water). The rented lot across the street, however, has no water source and is too far to bring hoses from our place. We have beans, potatoes, and sweet potatoes that are pretty big and cilantro, chard, turnip, onion, squash, pumpkin, and melon seedlings that all desperately need water.
Our solution? Rain barrels.
About a week ago we took on the DIY project of making our own. We had a couple of large plastic barrels on the property and went up to the hardware store to grab $20 worth of plumbing supplies to kick off the project. We drilled holes in the bottom of the barrels and put together a couple of PVC couplings and a spigot. We even made our own gaskets out of a cheap sheet of rubber!
Here is what the spigot looks like attached to the hose:

We filled up the new rain barrels with water and trucked them over to the other property. The gravity feed works best when you can prop the barrels up higher than where you need to water. Luckily the property is sloped and there is just enough room on left-hand side to fit the truck. We do have one set of drip lines (hoses with holes every 6 - 8 inches to leak water directly onto the plants) and we set those up on the turnips while we hand watered the rest.

We were really surprised at the water pressure! We were expecting a trickle, but got a pretty good spray, even when the barrels were close to empty.
This has turned out to be a great solution for many reasons, but the best being that it was so cheap and so easy! It took about 10 minutes to put together once we had all the supplies. Watering takes a really long time, especially by hand, so we are still doing our rain dance but we sure are glad to have a solution to our watering problem.

Producer Only Markets

2010-06-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

At the heart of every successful Farmers’ Market is an unspoken understanding between the customers and the vendors; an understanding that the farmers grew the produce that they are selling, the bakers baked their breads, and the ranchers raised their meats. This understanding allows the customer the comfort of knowing that all of the food for sale was grown locally and picked at its peak, and it gives people a chance to meet the folks who grow their food and the opportunity to better understand how they do it. The Farmers’ Market is set apart from the aisles of the grocery store by that shared understanding, and by the sense of community and transparency that it creates.

Of course, if someone wanted to, they could easily exploit that understanding; it could be as simple as buying a dozen different kinds of produce from Sam’s Club, setting up a stand by the side of the road, and putting out a sign that says “Farm Fresh Local Produce.” It’s hard to believe, but that’s exactly what someone did this past Saturday, one block from the Downtown Westminster Farmers Market! All of us farmers and vendors watched in horror as some guy unloaded boxes of produce from the back of his truck, (boxes which, mind you, still bore the name of the international produce distributor from whom he bought them), and sold them to people who I’m sure thought that they were buying locally grown produce.
The good news though is that it’s easy to distinguish between guys like that one and legitimate Farmers’ Markets. Real Farmers’ Markets will usually have a ‘Producer-Only’ policy, which means that the market requires that its vendors sell only what they grow, raise or make on their own farms. All three of the Farmers’ Markets that we sell at – the Downtown Westminster Market, The Westminster Tuesday Market, and The Crossroads Market – have very strict producer only policies. If you are not sure whether the market that you shop at is producer only, just ask the Market manager or a few of the farmers – they’ll be happy to tell you.
In the meantime, for those of you who shop at the Downtown Westminster Market, you might want to avoid the man down the street who is selling watermelons out of the back of his truck – unless of course, you want a watermelon that was picked a few weeks too early and flown here from Vietnam. But if that’s really what you want, you might want to check Sam’s Club instead, I hear that they have a deal on them. Ask the guy with the truck – he can tell you all about it!

Ahhh Summer...

2010-06-17T17:15:00.001-07:00

Our days only get busier as the summer begins and all of our favorite things come together. Warm weather, beets, fireflies, and long days. We have our work cut out for us between the cabbage looper worms, weeds, and three markets but we are loving every minute of it. Yes, even the weeding! (Well, maybe we don't LOVE weeding but it's very satisfying.) We've been having a great time at the markets, Westminster is always fun since we know almost everyone. There is a great customer base and we really enjoy all the people. Crossroads has been great too - meeting other farmers and getting to know a new community has been really nice. Our stand has slowly been growing in quantity and diversity and some of our favorite veggies are starting to come in!

Beets

Tomatoes are one of our absolute favorites, we will have them soon - but not soon enough!Cabbage

Swiss Chard (still can't believe it grows right out of the ground with all those beautiful colors!)

Peas! Yum!

And we can't forget basil. Summer isn't summer without it. We are growing a bunch of different kinds (Thai, Aromato, Red Rubin, Lime, Genovese) and we LOVE to make pesto. And by "we" I mean Shawn. He makes great pesto with whatever ingredients we have available.

Most recently we had pesto made with basil, olive oil, garlic scapes, sunflower seeds, almonds, and salt. It was delicious!

With the purple and green basil mixed it's a nice dark sauce. It tastes extra good after a long day of weeding! Ahhh summer...so glad it's here. :)

Beautiful Roses and Sage Pizza

2010-06-05T18:46:00.001-07:00

Linda has planted several beautiful heritage rose bushes around the property over the years they have lived here. She gave us a beautiful bouquet of large, light pink, fragrant blooms mixed with miniature, dark pink blooms! They were sitting on the kitchen table in the evening light and I couldn't resist a few photos. They are unreal!

That same evening, Shawn went nose to the pizza stone once again. We had some sage leaves from the garden and I made some sage chips (hot oil, drop in leaves, remove when they change color, salt) while I was waiting for the delicious pizza. It's a fun little appetizer and as we were munching on them we decided to try them out ON the pizza.

It was tasty! We added them as a topping right after the cheese and then baked them along with the pizza. If we did it again, I think we would just add them after the pizza came out because they turned out a little soggy - fresh sage 'chips' are crisp and dissolve in your mouth. It still tasted great in spite of the different texture.
In addition to our sage pizza, Shawn made a super thin crust crispy pizza. It was SO good! Before he baked it, the dough was so thin you could almost see right through it.

We will be featuring Shawn and Mark's homemade pizza at our Farm Fest on June 26th! If you are here, you will get to experience their pizza expertise.

First Westminster Market

2010-05-30T16:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday was opening day at the Downtown Westminster Farmers' Market, as well as the debut of our market stand. First times tend to be memorable occasions, and this was certainly the case for us. We spent the day before market picking and washing produce, putting together trays of potted plants, and generally preparing for the big day ahead. That night we went to sleep feeling relaxed and ready.

The next morning we awoke to a find that our truck would not start. We tried every last trick we could think of to get it running, but to no avail. And so, with a bed full of plants and produce and a market about to start, we did the only think that we could think of: we gather up all of the cars on the property, filled them up as full as we could with our goods, and caravanned to market. We arrived just in time, and in high style no less - thanks to the grandparents, our convoy included a Chrysler 300, (a luxury sedan once endorsed by gangsta rapper Snoop Dog), and a Lincoln LS (another luxury sedan).

Despite the rough start to the day, it all worked out. There was a good turnout at the market, we saw lots of old friends and made many new ones as well. And, to top it all off, we sold out of all of the produce that we brought! A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our stand, as well as to everyone at the farm who helped us to get to market!

The Bees Get A Second Story

2010-05-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Our good friend Mark came down to the farm this weekend for a visit and to check in on his bees. With rain clouds brewing above us, we managed to get in a quick inspection of the hive and were pleased to find that our ladies have been very busy drawing out comb, making honey, and generally keeping their home in good working order. We were also pleased to find that plenty of eggs had been laid, which means that the queen remains healthy and industrious. For their good work, we rewarded the bees with a second story on the hive and ten brand new frames to fill.

The absentee slum lord and his super inspect the hive

The ladies are hard at work

Broccoli, Beet Greens, and Turnip Pizza

2010-05-23T09:36:00.001-07:00

The garden has been doing great and in the past couple weeks we have been enjoying some of the delicious fruits of our labor. We have been eating lettuce for almost a month, asparagus (fruits of Linda's labor :) ) for almost two months, broccoli, beet greens, and various other fun spring yummies. Our favorite recipes are simple - roasted asparagus with a little olive oil and sea salt, steamed broccoli and beet greens, raw turnips sliced thin with a little balsamic vinegar, sauteed kale with garlic and olive oil...the list goes on. Here are a few things we have made recently.
First: Broccoli and beet green pasta with butter and Parmesan cheese. We grabbed some broccoli from the garden,
and some of those delicious beet greens from when we thinned all the beets,
and got some pasta boiling on the stove. When the pasta had about 5 minutes left, we threw in the veggies to cook along with the pasta. Strain, serve with a little butter and some fresh cheese.

Yum!!

Next: Pizza
Shawn LOVES to make pizza, and he is really good at it. This weekend we had Mark (bee partner and great friend) down for a visit to come to the fair and hang out with the bees! For dinner Mark (also a proficient pizza maker) and Shawn decide to make two delicious pizzas. The first was a traditional pizza with crisp crust, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil from the garden. It was unbelievable.

We had also picked some young turnips to sell at the fair, and Mark came up with a really cool idea for the second pizza.
After Shawn worked his magic on the crust, Mark drizzled an olive oil, garlic mixture over the crust, then added paper thin slices of turnips, some turnip greens, Parmesan cheese, coarse sea salt and a little more olive oil mixture. Into the 500 degree oven, and out came this:
It was SO good; the turnips crisped up like chips, the greens seared from the heat, the salt and garlic olive oil flavored the crispy crust...heaven! It's amazing how well (and how cheaply) you can eat with a little creativity.
Stay tuned for some more delicious eats....:)

A Visitor and Tons of Strawberries!

2010-05-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

This past week, Shawn's Tibetan cousin Chungdhak came by the farm for a visit and to lend us a hand. Between picking salad greens, mulching rows of beans, and thinning the beets, she shared with us her own extraordinary story, including her brave escape from Chinese occupied Tibet at the age of 11. Her account of the current state of affairs in Tibet and the oppressive polices imposed by the Chinese were shocking. We urge everyone to read up about this situation and learn what you can do to help change it - more information can be found here.

During her visit, we received a group order from the Maret School for salad mixes, kale, potted plants, and eggs. It was a lot to pick, so we were lucky to have an extra set of hands.

Harvesting salad greens

Bags of freshly picked and washed greens

We also checked in on the bees and found them to be in good shape. The queen is laying plenty of eggs, which in turn are becoming strong little bees. They have also filled up the first ten frames of their hive and so it will soon be time to add a second story!

After a solid week of work on the farm, we went down the road to Baugher's to pick strawberries. (Proof that we love what we do - our idea of taking a break from picking on our farm involves going to pick on someone else's farm).

Some of the fifty pounds of strawberries that we ended up picking!

Everything is growing!

2010-05-13T13:40:00.001-07:00

Normally we would put these pictures into the What's Growing photo gallery - and maybe we still will - but it is just so exciting to see everything getting so big. We haven't forgotten the long snowy winter and are really appreciating the colorful new life in the garden!

Peas planted March 21st

Broccoli transplanted March 21st

Chioggia, Bull's Blood, and Detroit Dark Red beets planted March 21st

We thinned the beets today, some of them are starting to flesh out their roots! We ate these for lunch and they were soooo good.

Kale Mix and Onions planted March 25th

Chard planted April 2nd

We have also been busy at work in the high tunnel making sure everything is growing well. We strung up the tomatoes and cucumbers and stopped watering the peppers which were starting to look a little yellow. We are finally potting up some of the flowers we will be bringing to the Sustainable Living Fair on May 22nd.

The tomatoes are clipped to the strings and the trays of transplants are sitting between the tomato rows.

They are getting so big!

These are some celosia plants we just potted up, they are really colorful. You can also see how full the hanging baskets in the back have gotten. Growing, growing, growing - yay spring!!

Weeding, weeding, weeding.

2010-05-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful couple of days before all of this rain, we spent hours and hours weeding the gardens. We started up in the upper garden with the lettuce, onions, and carrots and then moved to the lower garden to save the beets, cabbage, and kale. Linda came out to help for a few hours and Jaxxy hung out for a while too!

We filled this cart (7 cubic feet) several times - with weeds! At least its good for the compost.

It is amazing how much bigger and healthier everything is when it's not competing with all of those weeds. Between weeding and all the rain, some things appear to have doubled in size within a few days. It's unbelievable!

Rabbit Update

2010-05-13T13:02:00.001-07:00

Apparently rabbits grow fast. Really fast. Faster than we can make decisions - but we did finally make one. The rabbits in the original nest in the upper garden are now much bigger and have their eyes open. Our final decision is to wait until they are old enough to potentially fend for themselves and then relocate them. A few days ago, we headed down to the main garden to relocate the second batch that were already big enough.
Well - they were already gone. We found one dead in one of the garden rows (Not sure why - maybe sick) but the rest have vanished. We destroyed the nest in hopes of spooking them should they decide to visit home. The rabbits in the upper garden are almost big enough, and hopefully we will be able to catch them in time.

Guess What We Found....

2010-05-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

We spent most of the day weeding yesterday...and when I say most, I mean all. We spent ALL of the day weeding yesterday - but more about that later. Guess what we found in the bed of broccoli. Yep. Another rabbit nest:
There are five in this nest as well, but these are older. Their eyes are open and the white spot on the top of their head is almost gone. When I picked one up, it let out a horrible squeal and the other four went running! It must have been a warning sound. I found one of the others in the grass and took them up the hill to show Mia, my niece.
She loved them, of course! They are so cute...

Shawn did some research and found out a few things about baby rabbits:
1.) The mom will not abandon the babies after you've handled them.
2.) The mom comes once at dawn and twice at dusk to feed them, she sits over the nest while they nurse.
3.) Once their eyes are open, their ears pop up, and the white spot on the top of their head disappears, they will be on their own.
4.) Rabbits are territorial and will try to stay near where they are born for the rest of their lives.

The last point is a scary one. We don't need 10 rabbits trying to live in our vegetable gardens. So far we are leaning towards two options. Either wait until they are old enough to fend for themselves and relocate them, or call the Humane Society and bring them in. We have to do something soon or they will eat all of our hard work! Stay tuned.